Weekend Quick Cryptic 150 - solution

Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce our series of Weekend Quick Cryptic crosswords. We take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it's Sawbill 's turn. 

You can find a link to the crossword here and the answers below.  Feel free to leave any comments or questions here as you would do on  TfTT .  You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here. 

Before looking at the answers, if you would like some additional help, click the label below.

Hints and tips...

Here are a few hints and tips.

• In 1A the field is not agricultural.
• 8A is a regular commenter on these crosswords 😀.
• The farm animal at 9a's milk is used to make cheese.
• "Extremely" in 21A means take the outside letters.
• In 5D "grabs" indicates an insertion.
• 18D follows the rule-of-thumb that a two-word clue is generally a double definition.

And click on this label to get the solution.

Solution and explanation of the answers...

Definitions   underlined in bold italics , ( Abc )* indicating anagram of Abc,{deletions} and [] other indicators.

 

Across
1 Field in British farm (6)
BRANCH – B (British) + RANCH (farm). Field of expertise.
4 Spice with a bit of Indian naan at last (5)
CUMIN – CUM (with) + first letter of Indian + last letter of naaN.
7 School is at the beginning of mid-term break (6)
SCHISM – SCH (school) + IS + first letter of Mid-term.
8 Man's drunk cold cider (6)
CEDRIC – [drunk] (c (cold) cider)*.
9 Attack farm animal (4)
GOAT – GO AT (attack).
10 Delays finally as American awaits verdict (8)
SUSPENDS – Last letter of aS + US (American) + PENDS (awaits verdict).
12 As an example, France is not changing (3,8)
FOR INSTANCE – (France is not)* [changing].
17 They turn up after six, take a seat or initially stand (8)
VISITORS – VI (six in roman numerals) + SIT (take a seat) + OR + first letter [initially] of STAND.
19 Sketch part of hospital from the east (4)
DRAW - WARD (part of hospital) reversed [from the east] -> DRAW.
20 Staggered from wine having eaten fish (6)
REELED – RED (wine) outside, [having eaten], EEL (fish).
21 Avoided duel somehow extremely embarrassed (6)
ELUDED – (duel)* [somehow] + outside letters, [extremely], of EmbarrasseD.
22 Trevor briefly returns in public (5)
OVERT – TREVO{r} without last letter, [briefly], reversed, [returns], -> OVERT.
23 Princess of Wales's after starter of smoked fish (6)
SKATES – First letter, [starter] of Smoked + KATE’S (Princess of Wales’s).
 
Down
1 Retreat after support not working (4,3)
BACK OFF – BACK (support) + OFF (not working).
2 One flying from Alberta via Toronto (7)
AVIATOR – Hidden in, [from], AlbertA VIA TORonto.
3 Rogue economist inherits, perhaps (5,4)
COMES INTO – [rogue] (economist)*.
4 Inexpensive revolutionary application quietly withdrawn (5)
CHEAP – CHE (Guevara; revolutionary) + AP{p} (application) without the second P (quietly) [withdrawn].
5 Stupid second in command grabs Ronald (7)
MORONIC – MO (second) + RON (Ronald) + I/C (in command). Grabs indicating an insertion.
6 Most attractive French city street (6)
NICEST – NICE (French city) + ST (street).
11 Metaphorically, drunk nothing, say (2,2,5)
SO TO SPEAK – SOT (drunk, the noun) + O (round letter; nothing) + SPEAK (say).
13 Old boy spotted we hear being rude (7)
OBSCENE – OB (old boy) + SCENE, sounds like, [we hear], SEEN (spotted).
14 Nod off at first but excited, I'm sure (2,5)
NO DOUBT – NOD + first letter of Off, [at first] + (but)* [excited].
15 In adverse arrangement they might escape (7)
EVADERS – (adverse)* [arrangement].
16 Drink too much in Dover docks (6)
OVERDO – Hidden in dOVER DOcks.
18 Surprise nurse (5)
TREAT – Double definition.